The Witch Rewritten
by ConfusedColumbia26220
Summary: So, I am rewriting every single episode of Buffy, with one slight change – Jenny Calendar killed off in Passion, season 2 episode 17 will be in every single one. Don't like it, don't read it. That simple. S1E3
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, I am rewriting every single episode of Buffy, with one slight change – Jenny Calendar (killed off in Passion, season 2 episode 17) will be in every single one. Don't like it, don't read it. That simple. If you do like it, I would also suggest that you start out by reading 'Welcome To The Hellmouth Rewritten', followed by 'The Harvest', before you read this. **

In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer...

In Sunnydale High's library, Giles was beside himself. "This is madness! What can you have been thinking? You are the Slayer! Lives depend upon you!" He began pacing. "I make allowances for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and instead of which you enslave yourself to this, this..." He stopped pacing. "Cult?"

Buffy was wearing a cheerleader uniform. "You don't like the color?"

"I d... " His tone went to exasperated, " Do you, um... " He put some books on a cart. "Do you ignore everything I say as a, as a rule?"

"No, I believe that's your trick."

Giles pushed the cart to the counter.

Buffy skipped in front of him and posed. "I told you, I'm trying out for the cheerleading squad!"

"You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You were chosen to destroy vampires, not to... wave pompoms at people. And as the Watcher I forbid it." Giles went back to the table.

"And you'll be stopping me how?"

"Well, I..." He sat on the edge of the table and crossed his arms. "By appealing to your common sense, if such a creature exists."

"I will still have time to fight the forces of evil, okay? I just wanna have a life, I wanna do something normal. Something safe."

There was an attic. Inside that attic, it was dark, and there were flowers and herbs hanging upside down from the rafters to dry and personal items with identification tags. There was also a witch, who moved around in the darkness. She stopped at a cauldron. She waved a pendant on a chain over the brew, then pulled it back. She went over to a rack and yanked off a doll hanging there by its neck on a wire.

"You're frustrated." Ms. Calendar entered the library. Buffy had already left.

"Hm?" Giles asked, placing the glasses on his face that he had previously been cleaning.

"You're frustrated, I can tell."

"Yes, a-as a matter of fact, I-I am. You're right."

"Why?"

"Buffy's going to try out for the cheerleading squad, against my better judgement."

"Let her."

Giles was shocked. "What?"

Ms. Calendar shrugged. "Let her. She's a sophomore. A teenager. She needs to be allowed some feeling of normalcy, or she won't be too willing to carry out her duty as the Slayer. Besides. She's just trying out. There's no guarantee that she'll get in."

Giles allowed himself a small smile. "I suppose you're right."

Ms. Calendar perked up. "Ooh. Can I get you to say that about computers being useful resources for information?"

Giles gave her a look. "Don't push it."

In the gym, cheerleader tryouts were about to start. Girls were stretching and practicing, doing back handsprings, cartwheels and walking handstands. One girl did a roundoff followed by a back handspring. Buffy, Willow and Xander came through the door.

"Giles didn't approve, huh?" Willow asked.

"He totally lost his water. We haven't seen a vampire in over a week. I'd say he should just make Ms. Calendar his girlfriend already... if he wasn't so old."

"Well, we're behind you," Willow supported.

"People scoff at things like school spirit, but look at these girls giving their all like this!" Xander was enjoying the view. He noticed Amber doing the splits between two chairs. "Ooo, stretchy! Where was I?"

"You were pretending that seeing scantily clad girls in revealing postures was a spiritual experience," Willow answered pointedly.

"Who said I was pretending?" He spoke to Buffy next, "Oh, hey! Here's a good luck thing for tryouts." He handed her a bracelet.

"What's this?" Buffy asked.

"What's that?" Willow echoed.

"Oh, how sweet!" Buffy read the inscription she'd just seen out loud, "'Yours Always.'"

Xander stammered, embarassed, "I-i-it came that way, really, they all said that!" He wouldn't let Buffy know that he was totally crushing on her. Not yet.

Willow let out a breath.

Cordelia approached them. "Just look at that Amber. Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?"

"I heard she turned them down." Willow hadn't actually heard that, of course.

Joy, the cheerleading squad leader, stepped up with her clipboard and called for everyone's attention. "Okay, listen up! Let's begin with -" She checked her clipboard. "Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning, move off the floor." 

Willow greeted a fellow student from the bleachers, "Amy! Hi!"

Amy came over. "Hi!"

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader! You lost a lot of weight."

"Had to."

"Do you know Buffy?" She turned to face Buffy.

"Hi," Amy greeted.

"Hi," Buffy replied.

"Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways." She was referring to the waiting that came with the process of auditioning.

Amber began her routine. It was very athletic. She started off with a needle-split lift followed by a double spin and a jumping double spin. After landing, Amber launched herself into an aerial and a cartwheel. Jazz slides were then followed by a single spin. Everyone in the gym was intent on watching her.

"She trained with Benson. He's one of the best coaches money can buy," Amy told Buffy.

"They have cheerleading coaches?" That was new.

"Oh, yeah! Don't you have? I train with my mom, three hours in the morning, three at night."

"Hmm, that much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide."

"Oh, I know it's hokey. But she's really great."

Cordelia turned her back to Amber with a look of contempt on her face. "Hmm!"

Buffy and Xander watched Amber in amazement. Amy and Willow were impressed, too. Amber's hands began to smoke.

"What the?" Buffy wondered. That couldn't be good.

"That girl's on fire!" Willow cried out.

Cordelia, who was facing away, therefore not seeing the smoke, replied, "Enough of the hyperbole!"

Amber's hands caught fire. She dropped her pompoms and screamed. Amber flailed her hands in the air as Buffy jumped up onto the bleachers and pulled down a banner. She ran back to Amber, knocking her down and snuffed out the flames with the banner. Everyone stared in shock.

Buffy tried comforting Amber, "It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be... okay." To herself she whined, "God!"

Later, in the library, Buffy was pacing. Willow, Xander, and Ms. Calendar were sitting at the study table.

"I've been slaying vampires for more than a year now, and I have seen some pretty cringeworthy things, but... nobody's hands ever got toasted before," Buffy stated.

Giles came out of the book cage. "I imagine not."

"So, this isn't a vampire problem."

"No," Ms. Calendar answered right away.

Buffy turned to Giles. "But it is funky, right? Not of the norm?"

"Quite. Spontaneous human combustion is, is rare, and, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years. Usually all that's left is a pile of ashes."

"That's all that would have been left if it hadn't been for Buffy," Willow stated.

So, we have no idea what caused this. That's a comfort," Xander retorted.

"But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth!"

Everyone looked at Ms. Calendar as though she had grown a second head. Unable to see that many eyes on her, she looked away.

Giles moved to sit on the edge of the table, which was coincidentally right next to Ms. Calendar. "There's a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage."

Now everyone's eyes were on him.

"Pardon me for finding the glass half full."

Ms. Calendar caught him glancing at her. "Stole the words," she quipped. "Right outta my mouth."

The kids blinked and shrugged it off.

Buffy brought conversation back to business, "Any common denominators in cases of spontaneous combustion?"

It took strength for Giles to bring his eyes to look at her. "Uh, rage. In most cases the person who combusted was, was terribly angry or, or upset."

"So maybe Amber's got this power to make herself be on fire. It's like the human torch, only it hurts," Xander suggested.

"I need to get the skinny on Amber. Find out if she's had any colorful episodes before," Buffy stated. She started to leave.

"That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system..." Willow looked over to Ms. Calendar nervously. "You won't tell on me, will you?" she asked in a small voice.

Ms. Calendar chuckled. "Course not."

Willow let out a sigh of relief. "At last, something _I_ can do!"

She and Xander got up and went over to Buffy.

"I'll ask around about her," Xander offered.

"You guys don't have to get involved."

"What d'ya mean? We're a team! Aren't we a team?"

"Yeah!" Willow agreed enthusiastically. "You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes!"

"I just don't like putting you guys in danger."

"Oh, huh, I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away." Xander wasn't exactly helping his case.

"Okay, just walk softly, at least until we know a little more. I mean, what if Amber isn't causing these problems herself?"

"Well, then we have to determine who or what did, and, uh, deal with it accordingly," Giles stated. He was definitely getting butterflies, especially when the teens left and he was left alone with Ms. Calendar. 

"Soo..." Ms. Calendar stood up. "How can I contribute?"

"Y-You can...um, e-eavesdrop on your students t-to u-uh, see if you hear anything of interest." He flashed a quick, embarassed smile.

"On it." She stood by him a moment longer before turning and striding out of the library.

In the kitchen at the Summers house, there were several wooden boxes and crates. Joyce, Buffy's mother, was trying to pry one open with a crowbar.

Buffy came in. "Hey!"

"Hi, how was school?"

"It's for the tribal art display."

"Cool!" Buffy examined a piece of art from another crate, that was on the counter. "We had tryouts today."

"Oh, great! How'd it go?" She exhaled, still trying to open the crate.

"I didn't actually get to try out. There was an accident. Pretty fierce competition, though."

"Oh, I know you'll do fine. Keep on pluggin', just have to get back on the horse."

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"What was I trying out for?"

"Oh, uh..." She stopped prying at the crate and looked at Buffy. "Some activity? I have no idea, I'm sorry." She felt bad.

"That's okay. Your platitudes are good for all occasions."

Joyce sighed. "I'm distracted." She started prying again and let out a breath, trying to muster up strength. "Got a lotta inventory to go through here." She sighed in exhaustion. "This is my Gallery's first major show." She sighed again and gave up on opening the crate. "You know, it might not physically kill you to give me a hand here." She went to check her clipboard.

Buffy grabbed the lid of the crate and effortlessly tore it off. "It was cheerleading," she informed.

"Oh good! I'm glad you're taking that up again, it'll keep you out of trouble."

"I'm not _in_ trouble."

"No, not yet."

Buffy was hurt.

Her mother looked up from her clipboard and noticed. "I mean, you stopped cheerleading just before the trouble, so it's good you're going back." She went back to the crate and partially lifted out a statue. "Oh, dear."

"What?"

"The fertility statue, you don't need to see it." She replaced the crate's lid and went back to her clipboard.

"Y'know, there's this girl, Amy, and, um, she trains with her mom, like, three hours a day."

"Uh-huh."

"Sounds like her mom's pretty into it." A part of her was jealous of that. Buffy didn't get to spend as much time with her mother as other girls her age did.

"Sounds like her mom doesn't have a lot to do." She walked out of the kitchen with a piece of art.

Buffy lifted the crate's lid a little bit and looked in. "Jeepers!"

The next day in the gym, tryouts resumed.

While pacing, Joy, the leader, addressed the girls, "Despite the terrible thing that happened yesterday we still have to pick new cheerleaders. If you make the team you'll find your names posted in the quad after lunch. Let's begin with group performance."

Amy spoke to Buffy before the group started, "Why do my hands have to sweat when I get nervous?"

"Don't worry. You'll do great."

Joy amped up the volume, "Five, six, seven, eight!"

Everyone chanted, "Sunnydale! Sunnydale! We never fail! We never fail! Jump and Shoot! Swish and score! The other team is such a bore! Yeah!"

Amy blowed a cartwheel and crashed into Cordelia.

Cordelia yelped as she fell and then quickly got up. "You saw that, right? That wasn't me! You saw that, right?" She looked at Amy and back again. "Right?"

Later, in the hall, Amy was admiring the trophies in the case with a longing look. Buffy came up next to her. Amy noticed her, smiled and pointed to a picture in the case. "That's my mom!"

"No!" Buffy was in disbelief. She read the inscription. "Catherine Madison. Get down with your bad self!"

"Her nickname was 'Catherine the Great'. She took that team and made them tri-county champions. Y'know, no one's ever done that before, or since. She and my dad were Homecoming King and Queen. They got married right after graduation."

"That's kinda romantic."

"Well, he was a big loser. Never made any money. Ran off with Miss Trailer Trash when I was twelve."

"Okay, that part's less romantic. My folks split up, too."

"Drag, huh? Uh, he left my mom with nothing. She put herself through cosmetology school." Amy smiled. "Bought me everything I ever wanted." She shook her head. "And never once gained a single pound."

Buffy walked around to face Amy. "Uh, she sounds really great, Amy, but, um... it doesn't mean that you need to lock step as far as this cheerleading thing." Seemed to her Amy was trying to hard to become her mother.

"She was the best! And I can't get my body to _move _like hers! I choked in there so bad!"

"No, Amy, you did fine."

Amy took on a dejected tone, "I'm gonna get changed."

"Wait! No..." It was too late. Amy was already walking away.

Willow walked by. "Hey, Amy!" She came over to Buffy. "Is she okay?"

"No, she's, she's wiggin' about her mom, big cheer queen back when."

"Yeah, her mom's kinda..."

"...Nazi like?" Buffy suggested.

"Heil. If she gains an ounce she padlocks the fridge and won't eat anything but broth."

"So, mommy dearest is really... Mommy Dearest?"

"There's a bitter streak. But Amy's nice. We used to hang in Junior High. When her mom would go on a broth kick, Amy'd come over to my house and we'd stuff ourselves with brownies!"

They started down the hall.

"Hey, any word on Amber?" Buffy asked.

"Nothing thrilling. Average student. Got detention once, for smoking. Regular smoking... with a cigarette, not, like, being smoky."

"Hmm."

"All pretty normal."

"So we just have to wait and we'll see what happens. Maybe nothing will."

At lunch, Ms. Calendar strode into the library.

"Hear anything?" Giles asked.

"I don't think it's Amber we should be suspecting."

"Who, then?"

"I'm not sure, but Amber is a pretty average student. Nothing too interesting, nothing too suspicious. I'd say we should be keeping an eye on all the other potential cheerleaders."

"Minus Buffy."

Ms. Calendar nodded. "Minus Buffy."

"Should we focus more on those who don't get in?"

"That makes sense. Probably. As you said, rage is a trigger. A lot of those girls really want to get in. In Texas people literally kill for positions."

Giles shuddered. "Thank you for that trivia, Jenny, much appreciated." Not only had he not needed to hear that, he now had disturbing visuals in his mind.

"Anyway, you going to come eat or are you just going to hibernate in here with your books all day?"

Giles crossed his arms, but had no comeback.

In the girl's locker room, showers dripped. Amy was alone at her locker. She heard a noise and turned to look. Nothing. The showers kept dripping. Amy closed her locker and started to go, but was surprised by Cordelia. "I have a dream. It's me on the cheerleading squad, adored by every varsity male as far as the eye can see! We have to achieve our dreams, Amy. Otherwise we... wither and die!"

"Look, I'm sorry about..."

Cordelia cut her off, "Shhh! If your supreme klutziness out there today takes me out of the running, you're gonna be so _very_ beyond sorry!" She smiled. "Have a nice day." She turned to leave. She threw her scrunchie into an open locker and slammed the door as she rounded the corner, but it didn't stay shut.

Amy leaned against her locker, apparently shaken.

Outiside Willow and Xander were walking along the colonnade.

"I told Buffy about Amber," Willow told him.

"Cool! Was she wearin' it? The bracelet, she was wearin' it, right? Pretty much like we're goin' out."

"Except without the hugging or kissing or her knowing about it."

"So I'm just a figure of fun." He sighed. "I should ask her out, right?"

"You won't know till you ask."

"That's why you're so cool! You're like a guy! You're my guy friend that knows about girl stuff!"

"Oh, great. I'm a guy." That was far from what Willow wanted him to see her as.

"Oh, hey, they're posting the list!" He ran off to check the list of names for the cheerleading squad.

There was a crowd in front of the bulletin board. Buffy and Amy were at the back. A girl rushed away in tears because her name was not on the list.

"I can't take this," Amy said nervously.

Joy stepped away from posting the list on the bulletin board.

Lishanne saw her name on the list. "Yes!"

Xander came up behind Buffy and Amy. "Cover me, I'm goin' in." He pushed his way through the crowd and looked at the list.

Cordelia came out of the crowd. "You're lucky!" she told Amy.

"I made it?"

"_I_ made it!"

Xander came back out of the crowd, getting hit on the way. "One of those girls hit me really hard! You should test for steroids. Okay, not only did you make the team, but you, Miss Summers, are the first alternate, and Amy's number three."

Amy looked at Buffy, badly disappointed, and left.

"And what a better way to celebrate than with a romantic drive through..."

"Xander, alternates are the ones who didn't make the team, they only fill in if something happens to the ones who did," Willow informed.

"Excuse me." Buffy went after Amy to console her.

Xander was downtroden. "For I am Xander, King of Cretins. May all lesser cretins bow before me."

Buffy caught up with Amy. "At least it's over. And you know what I think we should do about it? Brownie pig-out, my house, after school."

"It's just how many more hours a day can I practice? Y'know, how much more can I do? This would never happen to my mother. Never." She walked off.

Buffy stared after her.

In the attic from before, Amy stirred the cauldron. "Give me the power. Give me the dark." She went to get another doll from her rack. "I call on you, the laughing gods." She yanked one of the dolls off of the rack. "Let your blackness crawl beneath my skin." She wrapped Cordelia's scrunchie around the doll's head. "Accept thy sacrifice... of Cordelia. Feed on her." She dropped the doll into the brew.


	2. Chapter 2

In the Summers' kitchen the next morning, the toaster popped up, and Buffy pulled out a freshly toasted half of a bagel. She took it to the island in the middle of the kitchen for more preparation.

Her mother came in, "Look what I found. It's my yearbook from junior year." She found herself. "Oh, look! There I am." She put the book down on the island and went to get a cup of coffee.

Buffy looked at the picture. "Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I am not ready to know that you had Farrah hair."

"This is Gidget hair. Don't they teach you anything in history?"

"Well, it's really cool, but I gotta book."

"Well, I was thinking. I know the cheerleading thing didn't work out... Maybe you should think about joining the yearbook staff. I did, it was a lot of fun."

"Not really my tip, mom." She opened the refrigerator.

"I was, uh, photo editor. I got to be on every page, made me look much more popular than I was."

"And have you seen the kids that do yearbook? Nerds pick on them." She walked to her bag.

In an insulted tone, Joyce replied, "Some of the best times I had in school were working on the yearbook!"

Buffy faced her. "Oh, this just in: I'm not you! I'm into my own thing."

"Your own thing, whatever it is, got you kicked out of school, and we had to move here to find a decent school that would take you!"

Buffy was hurt. She took her bag and started to go.

"Honey, uhhh..."

Buffy left.

Joyce was disgusted with herself. "Uhhh! Great parenting form! Little shaky on the dismount."

In the hall at the school, Cordelia walked past Willow and Xander in a daze.

"Cordelia, you haven't been mean to me all day. Is it something I've done?" It was as if Xander was talking to thin air. He directed his attention to Willow. "Okay, see how she has no clue that I'm even a mammal, much less a human being?"

Willow removed the pen from her mouth. "I see that."

"This is the invisible man syndrome. A blessing in Cordelia's case. A curse in Buffy's."

Willow closed her locker. "You're not invisible to Buffy." She chewed on her pen some more as they started to walk down the hall.

"It's worse! I'm just like a part of the scenery, like an old shoe. Or a rug that you walk on every day but don't even really see it."

Willow took the pen out of her mouth. "Like a pen that's all chewed up, and you know you should throw it away, but you don't, not 'cause you like it so much, more 'cause you're just used to..."

"Will, yeah, that is the point, you don't have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike. I'm gonna take your advice and not beat around the bush."

"Or I could be wrong! Maybe you should beat around the bush more."

"Nah, I gotta be a man and ask her out. Y'know, I gotta stop giving her ID bracelets, uh, subtle innuendoes, taking Polaroids outside of her bedroom window late at night, that last part is a joke to relieve the tension because here she comes."

Buffy came out of a classroom and walked toward them.

"Okay, into battle I go." Xander quickly turned to Willow. "Would you ask her out for me?" He grabbed her by the shoulders, startling her. Buffy saw Cordelia trying to work the combination on a locker. Xander pulled himself together. "No. Man." He let go of Willow. "Me battle." To Buffy, "Buffy! Would you like to, uh..."

Buffy reached Willow and Xander. "Is that even Cordelia's locker?"

They saw Cordelia give up and continue down the hall.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know. What I'm saying is accompany me Friday night..."

Buffy watched Cordelia go and cut him off, "Xander, I have to, um..." She faced him. "We can make this up later. You don't mind, do you?" She gave him her book and followed Cordelia.

Xander whistled the sound of a bomb falling and exploding. Willow looked at him and continued chewing on her pen.

Buffy came out of the hall to the outdoors, looking around for Cordelia. She saw her and started to follow.

Mr. Pole, the Driver's Ed. Teacher, was waiting impatiently for Cordelia. He turned and saw her coming. "Nice of you to join us, Cordelia. We didn't keep you waiting or anything, did we? It's your turn to drive." He addressed the other students, "Okay, people, let's buckle up."

Cordelia went around the front of the car. "I don't wanna drive today, Mr. Pole."

"You've flunked Driver's Ed. twice already. Show me some moves, or you'll be taking the bus to college." He got into the car. Cordelia got in last. Buffy watched from behind a school bus.

"Okay. Check the brake. Check the mirror. Start the engine," Mr. Pole ordered.

Cordelia turned the key and the engine started, but she seemed out of it.

"Hello? Put the car in drive."

Cordelia struggled with the shifting lever.

"Let's move forward through the cones with a gentle even turn to the..."

The car took off backward, crashed into some signs and stopped. Cordelia got it in drive, and the car raced forward, burning rubber.

"Slow down. Slow, slow, turn right! Turn right!"

Cordelia lost control as the car raced along the course, knocking down cones and signs. Buffy began running after them.

"Brakes! Brakes!"

The car crashed through a fence and bushes and careened out onto the street, where it came to a sudden halt. Another car just managed to swerve around them.

"Everybody out!"

They all got out. Cordelia was in a daze, and she walked into the middle of the street. A delivery van was coming the other way, but it didn't slow down. Buffy came running. Cordelia turned to see the van coming and screamed. Buffy leaped over the Driver's Ed. car and grabbed Cordelia, pulling her down and out of the way. The van took out the open car door as Buffy and Cordelia rolled to a stop.

"Oh, my God, I, I can't see anything!" Cordelia wailed.

"It's, it's okay, it's..." Buffy finally caught sight of Cordelia's eyes. "Oh God!"

"What's happening? I can't see anything!"

Cordelia's eyes no longer has irises and were completely white.

In the library, the team was sitting at the table.

Giles had the answer. "Witchcraft. Blinding your enemy to disorient and disable them is, it's classic!"

"First vampires, now witches. No wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale," Xander, the forever jokester.

"Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?" Giles asked.

"Maybe because they met her?" Willow suggested.

Ms. Calendar couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Did I say that?" Willow was shocked that she'd been so bold.

" And setting Amber ablaze?" Ms. Calendar asked, curiously.

"Yeah, those guys don't hang..." Xander informed.

"They're both cheerleaders," Buffy stated.

"Someone doesn't like cheerleading," Giles said.

"Like you?" Buffy teased. She backed down at Giles' glare. "Sorry..."

"Or likes it too much..." Ms. Calendar suggested.

"Amy!" Willow cried out.

"Amy!" Buffy repeated in agreement.

"So, you guys are leaning towards Amy?" Xander.

"She's desperate to get on that team, and I've got this feeling she'd do just about anything to make her mom's dream come true," Buffy explained.

"Uh, let me make sure I have this right. This witch is casting horrible and disfiguring spells so that she can become a cheerleader?" Giles asked.

"Remember what I said about Texas?" Ms. Calendar asked knowingly.

"I'd been trying to forget," Giles answered wearily.

"Texas?" Xander asked.

"People actually kill to be cheerleaders there," Ms. Calendar answered.

"Ah."

"I think you're underestimating the amount of pressure a parent can lay on you, Giles," Buffy stated. "If you're not a picture perfect carbon copy they tend to wig."

"Cheerleading was kind of her mom's last hurrah," Willow added.

"Look, we still have to stop Amy." Xander stated. "We should grab her and..."

Ms. Calendar cut him off, "I think we should be sure she's the witch before we arouse her suspicions."

Giles nodded in agreement. "Yes, she's, she's capable of some fairly unpleasant things."

"Okay, alright." Buffy got up. "So, you're in high school, you are desperate to make the team and please your mom, so you turn to witchcraft. What's the first thing you're gonna do?"

"Check out the books on witchcraft!" Willow voiced her epiphany. She, Buffy, and Ms. Calendar went over to the computer to access the online library card catalog.

"Uh, no! No, that would be the _last_ thing you would do! You don't wanna leave a paper trail. Forget that!"

"It'll just take a minute." Ms. Calendar told Xander.

Xander got up and stood behind them. "We don't have a minute! Cheerleaders are in danger. Buffy's in danger." He turned his attention to Buffy. "You were the first alternate, you are on the team now that Cordelia's out. You could be next. We gotta get you to a safe house."

"Xander..." Willow said.

"Yeah."

Willow exhaled.

Ms. Calendar read the monitor, "'Witches: Historic Roots to Modern Practice.' Checked out by Alexander Harris."

Buffy read also, "'The Pagan Rites', checked out by Alexander..."

"Alright, alright, it's not what you think."

"You like to look at the semi-nude engravings?" Willow guessed.

"Oh, well, uh, I-I guess it _is_ what you think." That had been embarassing to admit with Ms. Calendar there.

"Have you all quite finished? We have to find a conclusive test. There may be something in here..." Giles paged through one of his many books. "Yes, this should do it. You'll need some of her hair, a little quicksilver and some aqua fortis."

"Well, that's just mercury and nitric acid. You can get that in the science lab," Willow stated helpfully.

Giles read, "'Heat ingredients and apply to witch, and if a spell has been cast in the previous 48 hours, witch's skin turns blue.' Hmm." He shut the book. "Oh, and you'll need some Eye of Newt."

In science class, Dr. Gregory held a frog up for the class to see. "Those of you in track one may begin your dissections... now." He indicated where the students should cut their frogs.

Meanwhile, Xander was trying to take his frog's eye out with tweezers.

Dr. Gregory carried on, "Those of you in track two, take your hydrochloric acid and your ammonium hydroxide and carefully pour them into your beakers." He began to pour.

Xander was still struggling with the frog's eye.

"Now slow, slow..."

"I can't." Xander gave up.

Willow grabbed the frog and took out its eye.

"...capping one, I'm being safe. And you get..."

Willow dropped the eye into a beaker. "Eye of Newt!"

The ingredients in Dr. Gregory's beaker reacted and began to bubble and smoke. "...that."

"How's Buffy doing with the hair?" Xander asked. They looked toward Buffy.

Lishanne was at another lab table, close to Buffy. "Isn't this exciting!" she spoke to her.

"Oh, yeah!" She spoke to Amy next. "Amy, help me. Um, which is the hydrochloric acid and which is the, uh, ammonium hydroxide?"

"Well, the bottle that says 'hydrochloric acid' is usually the hydrochloric acid."

"Read the bottles. Good concept!" Buffy laughed nervously and dropped her pencil. "Oops." She crouched down to pick up the pencil. She reached into Amy's bag and pulled some hair off of her brush. She got up and tried to pretend nothing happened. She glanced at Amy to gauge her reaction. Amy smiled back weakly. She noticed but pretended she didn't. Buffy waved her pencil and smiled back. She headed back to her lab table with an expression of relief at having avoided a close call. She put the hair on Willow's bench as she walked by. Willow picked up the hair and mixed it into the concoction. Amy looked back at them to see what they were doing. Willow and Xander looked back nervously.

Xander spoke in a low voice, "Wave 'Hi' to the nice little witch!"

Amy overheard and gave them another quick look.

Willow took the beaker and poured some of the liquid into a test-tube. "All set." She handed the tube to Buffy. "Do you have a plan?"

"Spill it on her. Try 'n' make it look natural."

"We're right behind you, only... further back." It was Xander's way of being supportive.

Buffy slowly made her way over to Amy.

Dr. Gregory spoke openly, "Lishanne, can you tell me why these chemicals have this reaction?"

Buffy poured some of the mixture onto Amy's arm and feigned an accident, drawing in her breath. She saw the liquid turn blue on contact.

"Lishanne?" Dr. Gregory repeated.

Amy apparently hadn't noticed the spill. She was looking over at Lishanne.

"Are you... Oh, my God!" Dr. Gregory freaked.

Buffy looked over at Lishanne now, too, and saw her shaking her head violently. Everyone saw that she no longer had a mouth. Buffy stared in amazement. She looked back at Amy, who looked amazed, too. Willow and Xander were also stunned.

In the hall, Buffy, Willow and Xander were discussing the result of their experiment

"Did you see?" Xander asked. "Amy was as freaked out as the rest of us."

"So it's not her?" Willow asked.

"The test was positive! She's our Sabrina. I just don't think she realizes what she's doing." Buffy was firm.

"Well, should we talk to her?" Willow asked.

"Maybe we should talk to her mother. I wonder if _she_ knows what she's created."

Ms. Calendar walked into the library. "Any news?"

"No, the kids haven't come by." Giles was at the table, his nose in a book.

"Hm. Maybe the results were negative."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, if it had been positive, they'd have told you by now, wouldn't they?"

Giles nodded. "Perhaps...or perhaps not. You know how Buffy's been acting. She's been trying to do everything solo...and are you sure you're alright?"

Ms. Calendar laughed. "You've got a tight grip on your memory, don't you? That was two weeks ago. I'm fine."

"I see...There, um, there-there may be some...spells i-in particular th-that c-could do a lot of harm i-if the witch found out B-Buffy's been hunting for her..."

"Is that your way of asking for help with research?"

"Y-Yes, actually."

"Alright. But I'm doing it my way. You can browse through your books while I browse the web."

Giles scoffed.

"Well, do you want my help or not?"

Giles sighed.

"That's what I thought." She went over to one of the few computers and logged on.

At Amy's house, Amy walked through the front gate with determination. The gate had a gargoyle face on it. She entered the house and looked around for her mother. "Where are you?"

Catherine, Amy's mother, quickly turned off the TV and got up.

Amy saw her. "Another productive day in front of the TV?"

Catherine just looked back.

"I got a history report due tomorrow." Amy dropped her bag. "Write it!"

Catherine could only keep looking and sighed.

Amy thought, considering. "I should be on that team by now. But instead Miss _Buffy _and friends are sneaking around stealing bits of my hair."

Catherine shook her head.

Amy opened her hand, and out dropped Buffy's bracelet. "I'll be upstairs."

Catherine watched her go.


	3. Chapter 3

In Buffy's slightly messy room the next morning, the young Slayer still slept. Until the alarm clock went off. She slapped it with her hand hard enough that it smashed under her strength. "Oh! Oops! Oh... " Buffy sat up. "Mm..."

In the kitchen, Joyce was making fresh-squeezed orange juice. Buffy came dancing in singing and wearing her cheerleader outfit. "Macho, macho, man! I want to be a macho man. Macho... Oh, hey, juice!" She grabbed a glass of fresh OJ and drank it. "Mm... Quality juice. Not from concentrate!"

Joyce glanced at her. "You're in a good mood," she observed.

"I am! I'm on the squad, which is great, 'cause I feel like cheering and leading others to cheer. Ooo, hey, juice!" Buffy took a second glass and drank again.

"Listen, honey, about yesterday, I really..."

"Mm! That is totally yester. Besides, it's not like you were wrong, y'know. I did get kicked outta school. I'm just wacky that way!"

"Still, I just want you to know that, despite the problems you've had, I really..."

Buffy cut her off, "Mom, you just don't get it. And, believe me, you don't want it. Y'know, there are just some things about being a Vampire Slayer that the older generation..."

"A what?"

"It's a... long story."

"Buffy, are you feeling well?"

"What? Oh, I'm, I'm fine, y'know? What, like, I can't be in a good mood? Is it, like, a new house rule? Fine, y'know? It's just fine, fine, fine, 'cause..." She broke out in song. "I'm a macho, macho man! I want to be a macho man!" She bobbed her head. "Macho, macho man!" She left the kitchen. "I want to be a macho man!"

Ms. Calendar entered the teacher's lounge and nearly sprayed her coffee everywhere. She forced herself to swallow. "Oh, wow." She approached Giles. "Book man crawled out of his cave."

"Ha ha." Giles sneered.

"Really, though. You're not in the library, for once. Congrats! You're moving up!"

A few other teachers in the room snickered.

"So, what, did you just wake up this morning and think, 'I think I'm going to embarrass the librarian today. Just for fun.'?" Giles asked.

"No...but I am surprised to see you here. And now that you mention it, it is fun."

"Glad to be your source of entertainment," Giles stated sarcastically.

"Well, I could have just sprayed my coffee all over that tweed suit of yours, 'cause I almost did...On second thought, I could have choked to death, too. You'd really like that, wouldn't you?"

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them with his tie. "I hope that was rhetorical, because no matter how I answer, I'm cursed to be embarrassed yet again."

"Lucky you, I don't want to know the answer." She took another drink of her coffee.

Giles put his glasses back on.

"Have I told you you're funny?"

"No...but I'm guessing it's unintentional."

"Well, you are. Funny, I mean."

"Th-thank you...I-I think."

"You know I'm going to keep on bugging you all morning until school starts, right?"

Giles sighed. "Yes." Not that he really minded. He wasn't going to let her catch on to that, though. After all, where would the fun in that be, for either of them?

During lunch, Ms. Calendar stopped by the library once more. "Still haven't heard from Buffy?"

"Nope."

"Willow? Xander?"

"Twice, no."

"Hmm...do you think the witch caught on and cast one of the spells we found last night?"

"Quite possibly."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"What can I do, other than wait? I have no way of knowing if she is in any immediate danger. If they need help, they'll come."

"...I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"There's a game today. If Buffy's the first alternate as Xander said, she probably got called into the team."

"And...would that be safe, or dangerous?"

"Could go either way, depending on who our mystery witch is."

"So I should stay after hours, I presume."

"Don't you already?" Ms. Calendar smirked.

"I do believe you've done your fair share of staying after, as well," Giles retorted.

"Then we'll stay after school, see if our assistance is required."

Giles nodded. He was sure, by this point, that Jenny was aware of just how much she flustered him. Especially with that evil little smirk of hers.

I'm going to have to make the first move, Jenny Calendar realized. I'm going to have to make the first move, because he's to-to British to notice that I like him.

In the gym during cheerleading practice, Buffy was positioned next to Joy in the lineup.

Joy chanted loudly, "Five, six, seven, eight!"

The cheerleaders began practicing a routine.

"Turn up the music!" Buffy was enthused.

The routine continued until Buffy accidentally stomped on Joy's foot.

"Ow!" Joy yelled. "We have a game in less than four hours!"

Xander and Willow entered the gym.

Buffy started jumping with glee. "Willow! Xander! My buds are here! I love my buds! Hi!" She noticed everyone staring. "Hi... Oh..." She got back in line, and the routine continued.

Xander asked Willow, "Is it me, or is Buffy a bit looped?"

Willow cast a worried gaze Buffy's way. The cheerleaders continued with a series of assorted cartwheels. "We better get her outta there."

"Yeah, before she..."

Buffy overthrew Joy's aerial, sending her crashing into the gym wall.

"...hurts someone." Xander finished. "Ay..."

Joy got up as Buffy came running over.

"Did I do that?"

Joy pushed Buffy. "You are _so _out of here!"

Willow and Xander came running up and each grabbed one of Buffy's arms.

"It's not her fault!" Willow cried.

"She's on medication," Xander hoped that would explain Buffy's loopy behavior.

"What?" Buffy screached.

"Well, obviously not enough," Joy scoffed. "Who's our next alternate?" She saw Amy. "Oh. Amy, you just made cheerleader."

"No, no, no. You don't want her, she's a wi..."

Xander quickly clamped his hand over Buffy's mouth. "A wise choice indeed!" He and Willow pulled Buffy away, nodding and casting nervous smiles at Amy and Joy. Amy stared after them.

Willow and Xander were supporting Buffy between them as the left the gym and went into the hall.

"She's a witchy!" Buffy finished her earlier statement.

"Buffy..." Willow didn't like the odd behavior.

"I just got kicked off the team, didn't I?"

"I don't think it was your fault," Xander offered supportingly.

"Hmm, I know you don't, that's 'cause you're my friend. You're my Xander-shaped friend!" Buffy leaned her head on his shoulder. "Do you have any idea why I love you so, Xander?"

"We gotta to get her to a..."

Xander cut Willow off with a gesture. "Let her speak!"

"I'll tell you! You're not like other boys at all."

"Well..."

"You are totally, and completely one of the girls!" She spoke to Willow. " I'm that comfy with him."

Willow smiled widely.

"That's great." That hadn't exactly been what Xander had been hoping to hear.

"Any other guy who'd give me a bracelet, they'd... wanna date me, and be like a..." Buffy began to feel woozy. "Oh! I, I don't feel so good."

"Buffy?" Willow was even more worried.

Buffy collapsed into their arms.

In the library, Buffy was lying back in a chair with a wet cloth on her forehead.

Willow supported her head, keeping the cloth in place with her hand. "We've gotta get her to a hospital!"

"They can't help her," Ms. Calendar stated.

"This is a bloodstone vengeance spell," Giles took Buffy's pulse. "Hits the body hard like a, a quart of alcohol, and then it e-eradicates the, uh, immune system."

"A vengeance spell, like she's trying to get even with Buffy?" Xander asked.

"'Cause she knows I know she's a witch."

"The others she just wanted out of the running. You she intends to, um..." Ms. Calendar didn't want to finish the sentence.

"Kill?" Buffy finished it for her.

"How much time do we have?" Willow asked.

Giles stuttered, "Oh, uh, I'm sure, uh..."

"Truth. Please."

"Couple of hours... Three at most." That was a hard idea for Giles to grasp. Sure, Slayers always died young, but not usually after only three weeks of duty.

"Well, how do we reverse the spell?" Xander asked.

Giles stood up. "Well I, I've been researching that - well, J-Jenny and myself, and, uh, we can reverse all the spells if, um..." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. " ...we can just lay our hands on, on Amy's spell book." By that point Xander and Willow had keyed the adults in on the results of the test.

"And if we can't get a hold of it?" Willow asked.

"Well, the other way is to cut the witch's head off," Ms. Calendar stated simply.

Giles put his glasses back on.

"Show of hands!" Xander raised his hand.

"It's not Amy's fault. She only became a witch to survive her mother," Buffy insisted.

Xander spoke to Buffy, "Look, I don't care why, I just care that you go on breathing."

"Giles, Ms. Calendar, where would she be casting these spells?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, she needs a, a sacred space. A-a-a pentagram, um, large pot," Giles fumbled through the answer.

"Her home. Okay. Help me up." Xander and Willow helped her up. "We'll just go to her house and we'll get her book."

"Okay, we'll go with you," Willow said.

"Uh, no! You guys stay here and keep an eye on Amy," Buffy ordered.

Giles took Buffy from Xander and Willow and into his own arms. "And keep her away from the science lab. We'll need it to cast our counter-spells."

"Rupert?" Ms. Calendar asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you want me to go with or stay here?"

Giles thought. "Um, stay here. Too many adults would simply make the parent not want to let us in. B-Besides that...with how powerful Amy is, we need a-as many eyes on her as possible." He then left the library, Buffy in arms.

Ms. Calendar giggled when they were out of sight. He had no idea how naughty his parting words sounded.

Willow and Xander exchanged worried looks. Xander sighed.

After twenty minutes, give or take, Giles' old Citroen pulling up at Amy's house. Inside, Catherine had a plate of brownies on her lap. She took a bite out of one. Giles knocked on the door. Catherine looked up, startled. Giles knocked some more. Buffy was very tired and out of it. Catherine slid the plate under the coffee table and got up. Giles knocked again.

Catherine opened the door. "Who are you? Wha, um, uh, is there something wrong?"

"Mrs. Madison, we need to talk to you about your daughter," Giles answered.

"I'm not allow... You'll have to come back later." She tried to close the door, but Giles prevented her and pushed his way in.

"Excuse me!" Still had to be polite. English habit.

"What?"

Giles turned to help Buffy. "You alright?" He looked for a place to sit her down. "Um, in here." He lead Buffy into the living room. To Catherine, he said, "Your daughter is meddling with something very dangerous, are you aware of that?" He sat Buffy on the couch.

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you know only too well."

"You've got to go. She's gonna be home soon, and you..."

Giles interrupted, indicating to Buffy. "This girl is very sick." He got angry. Very angry. "Now you will shut up and you will listen to me! Your daughter has access to some very powerful magicks, and somehow your obsession with cheerleading has made..."

Catherine interrupted, incredulous, "I don't care about cheerleading! It's not my fault she's doing stuff."

Buffy saw the brownies and began to realize who Catherine really was.

"As her mother you should assume some responsibility for her actions," Giles went on.

Catherine laughed. "Well, you know, these kids today! I..." She calmed down a bit. "She's out of her mind. Ever since dad, her dad... left I can't control her."

Buffy slowly got up

"You're afraid of her?" Giles was sympathetic, now.

"Amy?" Buffy asked.

Catherine looked at Buffy and realized she had been found out. Giles looked at Buffy, puzzled.

"Are you Amy?" Buffy asked.

Giles looked back at Catherine. "I don't understand.

"She switched! She switched your bodies, didn't she?"

Catherine looked down, defeated.

The truth finally dawned on Giles. "Good Lord!"

"She wanted to relive her glory days," Buffy stated.

Catherine looked back up. "She said I was wasting my youth. So she took it.


	4. Chapter 4

In the living room at Amy's house, the three sat on the couch.

Catherine, or rather, Amy in Catherine's body, was distraught. " I didn't know anything about her powers. I mean, when dad was here they would fight and yell and he would... call her a witch and... I mean, I would, just thought he meant... Oh, God, when he left I wanted to go with him. But she wouldn't even let me call. She went crazy, I mean, she'd lock herself upstairs for days, and she was always coming down on me, telling me I didn't deserve to have it so easy, and that I didn't know... how hard it was to be her, and... I guess she showed me, huh?"

Buffy took her hand. "Amy, it's gonna be okay."

"A few months ago, I woke up in h... her bed! I didn't know where I was, and... then I looked in the mirror..."

"She locked herself upstairs?" Giles asked.

"Yes."

"Where?"

Moments later, Giles was breaking in the attic door. When it was down, he came in and started to look around. Catherine/Amy came in after him.

She was trying to stop him, "Don't! If she finds out I've been here she'll kill me!"

Giles walked around the cauldron to the rack with the hanging dools. He saw two dolls bound together for the body-switching spell and took them in his hand. "My God!" He exhaled. "I believe we can reverse your mother's spell. Well, all of them, in fact." He let go of the dolls.

"You could? Really, you could?"

"We need to find her books. There'd be specific volumes she'd need for this kind of casting." He began to look around some more. He found a trunk and knocked off the things on top. "Collect those dolls, and, uh, any other personal effects..." As he started to open the trunk, a black cat jumped at him and surprised him. "Ah! Nice kitty..." He calmed down. "Let's see what you were guarding." He opened the trunk. "Ah, yes!" He took out a book. "This is it."

Giles and Catherine/Amy came back down the stairs and went into the living room.

"Did we find?" Buffy asked.

"We found. Come on." He helped Buffy up from the couch. She'd gotten weaker.

"But where are you going?" Catherine/Amy asked.

"We're going to school." He realized Buffy is too weak to walk and picked her up in his arms. "And you're coming with us."

In the the gym, the Sunnydale High basketball team came through the doors and ran onto the court. Amy/Catherine is among the cheerleaders, clearly very happy to be there. Xander, Willow, and Ms. Calendar were in the bleachers, watching Amy.

Giles carried Buffy into the science classroom and laid her down on a lab table, knocking everything off of it in the process. He took off his coat. "I'm gonna stop this. I promise."

Buffy looked up at him.

He folded his coat and put it under her head as a pillow.

Her vision is blurred.

"You just hang on."

Buffy moaned. Giles went to the box of books and other things Catherine/Amy had set on Dr. Gregory's bench and reached in to get Amy/Catherine's spell book.

"How is she?" Catherine/Amy asked in a concerned tone.

"We only have a few minutes left."

Meanwhile, the cheerleaders cheered in the gym, "Go, Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go! Six, seven, eight! Go Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go! Six, seven, eight! Go Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go! Six, seven, eight! Go Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go, Sunnydale go! Go!" The cheerleaders yelled over-enthusiastically.

Amy, in the crowd of cheerleaders, had a wide smile on her face.

In the science classroom, Catherine/Amy was cutting an eye from a frog, being squeamish about it.

"Right! Here we go!"

Buffy was getting weaker.

Giles recited a counter-spell while mixing a potion, "The center is dark. Centrum est obscurus. The darkness breathes. Tenebrae respiratis. The listener hears. Hear me!"

In the gym, the cheerleaders were doing a counting chant. Amy/Catherine stopped chanting and looked startled. Her vision flashed to what Catherine/Amy saw in the science lab - the book and the frog. Then she's back in the gym and took up the count again, but had a worried look on her face.

In the lab.

"Oh, it's... it's working!" Catherine/Amy almost couldn't believe it.

Giles picked the book up from the table and read, "Unlock the gate. Let the darkness shine. Cover us with holy fear."

Catherine/Amy staggered back and covered her face.

"Show me..."

The lights went out in the classroom.

In the gym, some of the cheerleaders were lifting Amy/Catherine. Once she was up, she thrusted her fists into the air and gave the crowd a big smile. Her smile faded as she had another flash to the lab, where she got a glimpse of Buffy. She came back to the gym and began to lose her balance. Xander, Willow, and Ms. Calendar watched. The cheerleaders supporting Amy/Catherine struggled for control, but they collapsed. The crowd reacted to the fall. Xander, Willow, and Ms. Calendar saw everything to.

"Amy, what's your problem?" Joy demanded.

Amy/Catherine shot her a dirty look. Joy was taken aback. Amy/Catherine got up, looked around and ran from the gym.

In the lab, Catherine/Amy warned, "She's coming!"

Giles looked worried.

In the hall, Amy/Catherine violently pushed open a door.

Willow stopped her. "Amy!"

"Get out of my way!"

"W-wait! I-I-I need to talk to you, I-I can help you."

"Help me? With what?"

"Uh, well, y'know, all your witchcraft! I, I know this really good cauldron."

Xander and Ms. Calendar snuck up behind Amy/Catherine.

"Do you actually ride a broom?" Willow asked, stalling.

Amy/Catherine twisted around, growled and held out her hands, grabbing Xander and Ms. Calendar's necks. Their hands flew to their throats. Amy/Catherine skillfully made fists and twisted them. Xander and Ms. Calendar collapsed to the floor, choking.

"Xander! Ms. Calendar!"

Amy/Catherine spun back around and punched Willow hard in the face, knocking her to the floor. She started running to the lab.

In the lab, Giles was holding his arms up and chanting, "Corsheth and Gilail! The gate is closed! Receive the dark! Release the unworthy! Take of mine energy and be sated!" He plunged his hands into the mixture he concocted.

Amy/Catherine slammed through another door in the hall and continued walking to the lab with a determined look on her face. She tried the door, but it was locked. She yanked at it.

It was the door to the lab. Inside, Giles took his hands out of the brew. Catherine/Amy looked at the door and saw that it was being yanked on.

"Be sated! Release the unworthy!" Giles continued on.

In the hall, Amy/Catherine stopped yanking at the door and found a fire axe in a glass case. She broke the glass with her fist and took out the axe.

Inside the science classroom, Buffy couldn't keep her eyes open and just rolled her head slowly.

"Release!"

Amy/Catherine began to chop down the door.

"Release!"

Buffy laid prone. Amy/Catherine had made a hole, reached through and got the door open. She marched in, axe in hand, straight over to Buffy.

"RELEEEEASE!"" Giles bellowed.

Amy started to wield the axe, but stopped when there was a flash of light and the spells were all broken. She was herself again. She looked around, a bit confused, stepped back and lowered the axe. Buffy had her strength back and got up from the table. Giles saw that she was okay.

"Buffy?" Amy asked.

"Amy?" Buffy asked.

Catherine lunged at Buffy from the side and tackled her to the floor, knocking her out.

Giles advanced, holding his arm out and pointing. "You... you..."

Catherine growled and looked at him. She used her powers to force him back and push a table against him, knocking him down and out. Amy just stood there watching, still holding the axe in both hands. Catherine got up and confronted her. "You! You little brat!"

Amy held the axe threateningly. "Mom! Please!"

Catherine held out her hand, and the axe flew from Amy's hands to hers. "How dare you raise your hand to your mother! I gave you birth. I gave up my life so you could drag that worthless carcass around

and call it living?" She swung the axe into a lab table. "You've never been anything but trouble. I'm going to put you where you can't make trouble again!"

Buffy jumped behind Catherine. "Guess what?"

Catherine turned to face her.

"I feel better!" She punched Catherine, and she flew through the air, landed on a lab table and rolled off, hitting a shelf full of bottles along the way. She quickly got up.

"That body was mine! Mine!"

"Oh, grow up!"

Catherine growled, held her arm out toward Buffy and used her powers to send her flying against the wall. Buffy hit the wall and fell to the floor. She got up, craning her neck. Catherine began to cast a spell. "I shall look upon my enemy!" She looked up at Buffy, her eyes having gone pitch black. "I shall look upon her and the dark place will have her soul!"

Buffy looked around for a way to stop her. She saw the pole holding up the mirror above her.

"Corsheth, take her!"

Buffy did a standing hook kick, knocking the pole out from under the mirror and letting it flop down. Catherine's spell leapt from her hands and was reflected by the mirror back at her. The power of the spell

enveloped her as she screamed. The energy twisted around her and disappeared with a roar, taking her with it.

Buffy surveyed the scene. Amy was badly shaken. Buffy saw Giles unconscious on the floor. Moments later, he woke up.

"Well, that was, um, interesting."

Buffy gave him her hand and helped him up. "You guys okay?"

"I'm fine!" Amy answered.

"I assume the, uh, all the spells are reversed. It was my first casting, so..." He inhaled. "I may have got it wrong."

"You saved my life! You were a god!"

"Well, I didn't think you'd pull it off."

Suddenly Xander came rushing in and grabbed Amy tightly. "I got her! I got her! Cut her head off!"

"Xander, what are you doing?" Buffy asked.

"Saving you?"

"Get your hands off of her."

"But she's evil."

"It wasn't exactly her," Giles informed.

"I was my mom," Amy explained.

"Oh!" Xander released her.

Willow came in running too, wielding a bat, Ms. Calendar carefully following so she didn't get hit. "Where is she?"

"Uh, hey Willow! It's cool!" Xander informed.

"It is?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, I took care of it."

They all looked at each other.

Ms. Calendar looked to Giles. "Over?"

"Over," he confirmed.

Later, in Buffy's room, she scooped her smashed alarm clock into a wastebasket.

Her mother came in. "I don't get it."

"What?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking about... where you're coming from, how to relate to you... and I've come to a very simple conclusion: I don't get it."

"I'm inscrutable, huh?"

"You're sixteen. I think there's a, a biological imperative whereby I can't understand you because I'm not sixteen."

"Do you ever wish you could be sixteen again?"

"Oh, that's a frightful notion." She exhaled. "Go through all that again? Not even if it helped me understand you." She smiled at her daughter.

Buffy smiled back. "I love you, mom." She jumped up and kisses her on the cheek, then ran from the room.

"I don't get it!"

In the school hall, Buffy and Amy were walking together.

"My dad is _so _impossible!" Amy complained. "He doesn't ever want me going anywhere! He wants to spend total quantity time together. And I'm, like, 'Dad, I can go out, it's perfectly safe!' But he's got all this guilt about leaving me with my mom. And he's being a total pain."

"You're loving it."

"Every single minute."

Moments later, in another part of the hall, Amy said, "This Saturday night he wants to stay in and make brownies. Well, the brownies were my idea."

Cordelia came up behind them. "Hey, I'm really sorry you guys got bumped back to alternate." She reconsidered. "Hold it, wait... No I'm not!"

"Well, I know that I'll miss the intellectual thrill of spelling out words with my arms," Amy retorted.

"Ooo, these grapes are sour!"

Buffy and Amy stopped at the trophy case while Cordelia continued on.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Amy apologized. "I forgot that you wanted to be on the squad."

"Oh, hey, that's okay. Cheerleading's just a little too hairy for me these days."

Amy took a breath. "That's for sure."

They went around to the front of the case and looked at Catherine's picture.

"Catherine the Great."

"And there's been no sign of her?" Buffy asked.

"That last spell... She said I'd never make trouble again. Wherever she is I don't think we'll have to worry."

They both looked at Catherine's cheerleading trophy.

"Twisted," Buffy stated.

They turned and walked away.

"I'm just happy to have my body back. I'm thinking of getting fat," Amy said.

"Y'know, I hear that look's in for spring."

Catherine was trapped in the cheerleading trophy. Her eyes were looking out and she made muffled noises.

Giles and Ms. Calendar were sitting at the study table.

"She did what?" Giles asked.

"Yeah. Completely knocked the breath out of Xander and I. She could have crushed our throats if she wanted to."

"Well, I-I, um...I'm glad she d-didn't."

"You mean that?" Complete happiness flashed in Ms. Calendar's eyes and in her smile for a moment.

"Y-Y-Yes. I, uh, do."

"I'm glad you came out of it, too."


End file.
